Spiders
by Liv Tinuviel
Summary: Rose is in trouble, and Ron rushes to her rescue.


Ron Weasley was a Gryffindor and a war hero. He had faced many dangers, usually with courage and devotion. However, when he heard his two-year-old daughter scream, he felt a flash of panic greater than any he had ever known.

"Daddy, save me!"

Logically, he knew his precious Rose couldn't possibly be in too much danger – she was in her own bedroom, after all. But she had sounded so completely terrified that he found himself sprinting to her room, ready to defend his little girl, just as a surprised and very pregnant Hermione waddled through the front door.

"Ron, what – "

"Rose!" He replied over his shoulder, cutting off her question. Vaguely, he was aware of his wife puffing and hurrying behind him, as worried about her darling daughter as he, but by then Ron had reached Rose's bedroom, and charged through the door in a rather gallant fashion.

"What's wrong?" He asked, eyes running up and down her small form, checking for injuries. She looked fine, merely frozen in fear. Without taking her eyes from her miniature bookcase (his girl took after her mother in all the best ways), Rose wordlessly lifted a shaking hand and pointed. Ron's gaze followed, looking at the usually innocuous piece of furniture with trepidation, some sixth sense warning him of what he would find. Ah yes. There, directly in the line Rose was nervously pointing out, a large creeping arachnid was making its way across her bookcase.

A spider. Lovely.

Ron Weasley was a Gryffindor and a war hero. He had faced many dangers, usually with courage and devotion. However, when he saw the spider he felt like a coward. How many times had he called for Hermione to kill the awful things? She kept the house almost miraculously free of them, but every now and then, one slipped past her, and Ron Weasley, Gryffindor war hero, would shriek in fear, begging his wife to get rid of it.

It appeared that Rose Weasley, along with her mother's love of books, had inherited her father's fear of spiders. And she expected Ron to save her. He was her father, after all, and fathers are every little girl's knight-in-shinning-armor. He had saved her from nightmares and scrapped knees, from mischievous boy cousins and enthusiastic girl cousins. He had never failed her before, and, despite her fear, it was quite clear that she didn't expect him to now. Stunned, Ron realized that she had every faith in his ability to save her from the spider, even depended on him to do so. And because she was his little girl, he found he could. Grimacing, he snatched a tissue from her dresser, took a deep breath, and squished the offending terror. With a shudder, he wiped the bookcase clean of any spider residue and tossed the tissue.

"What if there's more?" Rose whispered, still frightened.

"Don't worry, Rose-petal, I'll make sure there aren't." Then, going against his instincts as he had only once before in his entire life, Ron began systematically looking for spiders. He checked every corner of Rose's room while she watched from the doorway. Relieved at having found none, he turned to see Rose standing in front of a pleased-looking Hermione.

"All done, sweetie. You're perfectly safe; there aren't any more. Promise."

"Thank you, Daddy," Rose said, smiling as she threw herself at his legs, hugging them quickly before rushing back into her room. Feeling a hand tugging at his sleeve, he let Hermione pull him from their daughter's room.

"That, Ronald Weasley, may have been the most heroic thing I have ever seen you do," his wife said, her eyes twinkling. Ron knew she meant it, knew that she understood how terrified he had been and how difficult it was for him to do. It was a silly fear, but one he had never been able to master. Until now.

"Rose needed me. I had to," he replied. It wasn't so bad, he reasoned. Plus, he got a certain measure of satisfaction from killing the horrible little thing. Hermione smiled knowingly as she walked back toward Rose's room.

"Hello, sweetie! Would you like a story?"

A/N: So…what do you think? I've never really done anything quite like this in HP before, and I would really appreciate any feedback you might be inclined to give. Even just one word would be fantastic. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it!


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